In July, the think tank UKDayOne published a report suggesting that Britain's next 'new town' should be at Tempsford in North Bedfordshire to meet the Labour government's target of delivering 1.5million new homes in the next five years through new towns.
In May 2023, the East West Rail Company published a route update and in that document, announced that the route would create a new station at Tempsford. The think tank argues that with the new station, a new town at Tempsford of 250,000-350,000 people, which is bigger than Oxford or Cambridge, will "probably be the best-connected greenfield site in Britain".
Commenting, Richard Fuller MP said:
I spoke during the election campaign of my fears that East West Rail (EWR) is predominantly a vehicle for significant additional housing growth in North Bedfordshire. I felt we could be looking at an extra 20,000 to 30,000 new homes however it seems I may have massively under-stated the reality.
The new Labour Government has set out plans for substantial house building over the course of this Parliament with very large 'new towns' mooted as a way to deliver this growth.
At least one think tank believes that Tempsford is ripe to increase from a population of around 400 to 250,000-350,000 people, although it doesn't discuss the serious implications and requirements for potentially re-routing the A1, and the already severely challenged rail service to London on the East Coast Line.
I am meeting with the new Chief Executive of East West Rail in the next few weeks to understand what their latest plan for Tempsford is and I also have serious questions to follow up with the government about their plans for the area.
The full think tank report can be read here.
